YOUNG members of a mosque in Shadwell are asking their community for food donations during Ramadan to help feed the poor in Leeds.

Food collected during the ‘Ramadan Harvest’ at the Baab-Ul-Ilm Centre will be donated to the Moortown Methodist Church food bank at the end of July.

The project has been organised by youngsters in the Youth Network at the mosque, to help their local community.

Youth leader Zaheda Mehrali said: “For Muslims, besides this being the month of fasting from dawn to dusk, there is a higher goal of community development which takes place by extending the message of love, brotherhood and unity within the community.

“We’ve recently set up the network to try to engage youths in being more proactive with contributing to society - and they have organised this.

“We just want to raise awareness that we are doing our bit and really do want to change the image that Muslims have at the moment.

“It’s open to anyone.

“Anyone can come up and drop off items - beans, meals in a tin, pasta, pasta sauces, noodles, tuna, sardines. Anything that people can cook up themselves without requiring much equipment.

“It’s been going well so far - a lot of people from the community have been coming down and dropping off bits. It’s been quite successful.”

Local councillors will be visiting the mosque for an interfaith dinner on July 23 where Moortown Methodist Church food bank will receive the food donations from members of the Youth Network

Ramadan began on June 29 and is expected to last until around July 27.

The month - based on the lunar Islamic calendar - is spent by Muslims fasting during the daylight hours, from dawn to sunset. It is considered one of the five ‘pillars’ of Islam.

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